Shots and Guns
by StarkWars084
Summary: Marvel one shots! Requests always open!
1. For the Better - Part 1 (Peter P)

"Moving?" you asked, appalled. You were sitting on your father's workbench as he worked in chaos around you.

"That's what I said," he confirmed, sifting through his hologram junk. "Avengers tower isn't exactly a beacon of hope anymore, but don't worry I've got a place for you I know you'll love because it was designed by yours truly." he said making sure to point to himself so you wouldn't mistake who he was talking about ."But in the meantime you're going somewhere else so we can get it all spruced up for you." He frowned at his work then looked over to you. Will ya' get off the diagram I'm using to put this together." You slid off the table in annoyance.

"But Avengers Tower isn't for me so why don't I just stay in one of your resorts like the last time you had to go away for work?" You reasoned. He pulled up a large screen where you were sitting that stood in between you two.

"Because, last time we left you alone, you reprogrammed Butterfinger to play checkers with you, and now look at him." You looked over at the robot which was still moving it's arm as if it was playing the game.

"I thought you didn't like Butterfinger," you mumbled.

"Yeah he's a real pain. Which, I guess, is what makes you two such good friends," he said. With a few quick swipes you lowered the screen in between both of you.

"This isn't your idea," you guessed.

He pulled the screen back up. "No, it was your mother's," he confirmed.

As if on queue Pepper walked in. You made your way over to her. "Mom, I can stay in one of the Stark resorts, right? I won't reprogram Butterfinger again," you promised.

Pepper scoffed, and looked over at Tony. "You're worried about that piece of junk?" she said in disbelief. "I've already made up my mind, Y/N. You need to have some friends your own age who aren't robots, and you staying cooped up in a resort home isn't going to help you," she said. "Now let your dad work, and go pack your things."

You looked over at your dad, but he was too buried in his work to look back. You didn't notice at first, but it looked like he was designing a suit. A suit you actually recognized. You had found something similar to it when you were digging through his files. You wanted to ask him about it, but then he would know you were looking at his old work...again. So you left him to work on it, and went to your room to start packing.

You didn't know what you should pack so you filled your suit case up with bare necessities. You were looking around to see if there was anything else you would need when your mom walked in to see how it was going. Before she could say anything you spoke up.

"Yes I have all my outfits, though I don't know how long I'm staying. I have my toiletries, my electronics, and anything miscellaneous I could think of." You started zipping up your suitcase.

"Y/N, you're staying for the whole semester," she said. You froze.

"Semester?" you repeated. Surely she wasn't talking about a school semester. After a few years of high school your dad decided that you were ahead and had taken out of school so he could teach you what he knew about robotics. You never missed going there, and your dad letting you in his lab to work had brought the two of you closer together.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "He didn't tell you did he?" she questioned. "You're going to school in Queens."

"School?" you asked. "In Queens?"

Pepper crossed her arms. "Did he tell you anything?" You unzipped your suitcase and flung it open.

"Apparently not!" you yelled over your shoulder as you dug in your closet for another suitcase. Without another word Pepper went downstairs, to talk to Tony no doubt. You put the other suitcase on your bed and ran your hand through your hair. This was going to be a long day.

The car ride to Queens wasn't enjoyable at all. It was mostly your dad explaining where you would be, and how you could contact him.

"I know you don't wanna go to school, kid," he was saying. "And we both know you don't need it after inheriting my genius. But your mother wanted it, and there is nothing on this earth that scares me more than your mother when she's angry."

"You could at least tell me why Midtown High," you said.

"Why Midtown High?" he said. "Why? Because it was the first one I saw that had a robotics lab, your welcome, and I'm busy and didn't have time to find another." You could tell that he was dodging the question.

"Is it because of that suit you were making?" you questioned. Before he could give his answer you continued. "Because I saw that you were remaking an old design, and it looked too small to be yours."

"Have you been digging through my stuff again?" he accused. "You've gotta stop doing that. Y/N, you're going to this school because your mother and I picked it out. End of discussion." You slumped in your chair and looked out the window until the half hour it took for you to get to Queens was up.

You stood at the entrance of Midtown High School. Your dad rolled down the window to the car and tossed you a key.

"You trash the house, and you can stay here for the summer cleaning it up," he called to you.

You rolled your eyes. "Love you too," you said.

He revved the engine. "Can't wait to hear about your first day!" He rolled up the window and started to drive off.

"The day's almost over!" you shouted as he drove away. You looked around the school grounds. Kids were already looking at you like you were fresh meat. You sighed and hauled your bags inside. You had already sent most of them in another vehicle to where you would be staying, but you still had a decent number of them on your person.

There were kids roaming the halls and the sounds of lockers opening and closing rang through your ears. You tried to push your way through the human traffic, but you found it difficult with all the bags you were carrying. You were told there was a storage area where you could keep your bags until school was out, but you were having trouble finding it through the crowd. A locker slammed right in front of your face dragging your attention away from the signs you were reading.

"I am so sorry," the owner of the locker said. "I had no idea you were there."

"It's fine," you assured him. "I didn't see you there either." But you definitely saw him there now. He had dark brown hair that matched his eyes, and he had a sweet smile that made him immediately likable.

"I'm Peter," he said. A heavier set kid standing next to Peter (who you assumed to be his friend) pointedly cleared his throat. "Oh, and this is Ned."

"Hi," he said as he stretched his hand out to you. You adjusted the bag you were holding so you could shake his hand.

"I'm Y/N," you introduced yourself. "I'm just visiting for the semester."

"Do you need to drop those off?" Peter asked referring to the bags you were holding. "Because, you already passed the storage area." You turned around expecting to see it right behind you.

"You just need to take a left down that hallway," he continued. "I can-" Ned cleared his throat again. "I mean we can take you. You know if you want."

You nodded gratefully "Yes, please that would be great." Peter grabbed the handle of the suitcase next to your feet.

"Great just, uh, follow us." He nodded awkwardly to the other bag at your feet.

"Oh," you heard Ned whisper as he grabbed it and followed Peter. You smiled and followed the two. You dropped all your luggage off and the worker handed you your schedule.

"That's not a lot of luggage for a semester," Ned commented. You shrugged.

"Well, I already sent most of it home. I mean who knows," you said with a small smile. "I might need to stay the summer too."

"That's cool," he replied. "Well technically it's the opposite of cool. 'Cause you know, it's summer. I mean I could've said 'That's hot', but it's just an expression so it doesn't really matter."

"Right, it doesn't matter. We got it, Ned." Peter interrupted. Ned smiled, proud he could successfully explain that to you. "Do you know where you're going next?" he asked you.

You looked down at the schedule in your hand. "History," you answered. "I missed the whole day." Secretly you were relieved. You didn't even need to be here, it was just to keep you busy for a few months.

"Well if you haven't missed chemistry, you haven't missed anything yet," Ned remarked.

"I did miss chemistry," you said.

"I know. It's just one time, Peter was trying to perfect a recipe he had been working on, and he almost blew his eyebrows off."

Peter laughed nervously. "Yeah, well I didn't. I had everything completely under control."

"He set off the fire alarm and 4 sprinklers," Ned finished.

"Ok, well that was a long time ago," Peter half whispered.

Ned look at him confusedly. "That was last week." The bell rang right after Ned had finished.

"We're gonna be late for class if we don't get going," Peter squeaked.

Ned nodded. "Right let's get going." He started leading you down the hallways which were easier to navigate with the students in their correct rooms.

You wanted to talked to Peter as you walked, but you felt flustered. Every thing you thought of sounded stupid or awkward, but there was one sure fire thing you could say.

"Thanks," you said. "To you and Ned for helping me with my bags."

"Oh, yeah, you're welcome," Peter responded. "The signs were probably really confusing. They've been backwards for a year."

You furrowed your brow. "That does explain a lot."

There was a moment of silence before Peter spoke up again. "So, are you from Queens?" he asked.

"No, I'm actually from Manhattan," you said, relieved he had broken the silence.

Peter perked up a bit. "Oh, I-well, I know...someone from Manhattan," he stuttered.

"Oh, anyone I'd know?" you asked jokingly.

Peter fidgeted his hands and looked at the ground. "No, probably, definitely not. He's just a guy...who works on cars." He looked up when he realized you were outside of History. "We can talk after class."

"Yeah Peter and I were going to hang out at his place later tonight," Ned chimed in. "I don't know if you like Legos, but I got an awesome new set to build."

You look apologetically at them. "I'm sorry, I can't. I have to unpack."

Peter opened the door. "Maybe some other time then," he said.

"Yeah," you said. "Another time." With that you sat down at your desk, which was behind Peter, and tried to listen to the lecture. It was difficult to do when Peter kept looking at the clock or fidgeting in his desk. He obviously wanted school to end, but you couldn't imagine him wanting that more than you. But, you must have imagined wrong, because Peter lept from his desk and hurried out the door at the first sound of the bell.

"He's in a hurry to be somewhere," you commented as you shouldered your backpack.

"Peter's always running off to go do something," Ned explained.

You looked at the door as the rest of the students left for the day. "I better go too," you said. "I haven't even seen where I'm staying."

"Wow, ok, that's weird," he said. "See you tomorrow."

"Yep," you sighed. "And the day after that, and the day after that." You followed the stream of students out the door. "Unfortunately, I'm not going anywhere."

They say that you haven't had the New York experience until you've ridden the subway. You wouldn't be surprised if you were the first to prove that theory wrong. When you boarded the train the first thing that hit you was the smell. You might as well have been standing in between two sweaty middle aged men with bad taste in cologne. And while standing was on your mind you also noticed there was no decent place to sit down. Unless, of course, you wanted to sit on a seat with a mysterious wet spot. But when you grabbed onto the sweaty railing, you noticed the worst thing might have been the people. There were people yelling, snoring, whining, and, your personal favorite, singing horrible karaoke to songs you used to love.

Overall the best part about the subway was when you could finally get off. You gathered your bags (which didn't help your subway experience) and quickly exited the train. Now all you had to do was walk to your home, and you could finally start some work.

When you walked in the door, you ditched your bags and shoes in the middle of the floor. The rest of your luggage was tucked neatly against the wall with a note from your dad. You left it all where it was, dug your laptop out of your carry-on, and landed on the couch. You opened up your laptop only to realize you weren't connected to the internet, and didn't know the password. You tapped your fingers on the keys for a second considering if you needed the internet for what you wanted to do.

You sighed, got up from the couch, and walked over to the note on your suitcases. You unfolded it hoping he left, at least, the wi-fi password in it, but there was only one sentence scribbled out in pencil,

_Don't forget about your homework - Dad_

You pursed your lips and stared at the scratchy handwriting. Of course. After a solid minute of staring that the note you decided you could work off of wi-fi for the night. You opened the files you downloaded from your dad's work folder and starting looking for the one you wanted. That suit he was designing had been in your mind all day, and you were going to figure out what it was for. You hoped it was for you, but you knew better than to assume what your dad had in mind as it was always starkly different than what you thought.

It took long time, sorting through everything, but you did come across a few things you found interesting; including an old file stating that Tony's original name for Friday was Emily. Finally you found one labeled "Spiderling MK 1" and tried to open it up, but it blocked you out saying you needed to connect to a network. You closed the laptop in frustration. You glanced over at your phone and considered calling your dad, but you quickly decided you would rather die. Instead you unpacked some of your things, grudgingly did your homework, and went to bed. Tomorrow you would open that file and find out what he was hiding.

A loud and grating beeping woke you from your sleep. You covered your ears and tried to sit up which was hard to accomplish doing both at once. Eventually you resorted to rolling out onto the floor still covered in your blankets.

"Shut up!" you yelled to nothing. And just like that the alarm stopped. You uncovered your ears and looked around room.

"Goodmorning." The voice scared you half to death and you bolted to your feet. "It's good to see that you're awake." You breathed a sigh of relief when you realized it was just Friday.

"I don't know how I couldn't be," you grumbled in a tired voice. "Don't ever wake me up like that again."

"I'm sorry," the computer said. "Mr. Stark informed me that you would want this alarm."

"Of course he did," you said as you got dressed. "Just change it to something calmer please."

"Right away," Friday replied. After you sorted out the alarm problem you went downstairs and packed your laptop into your backpack. "I have an incoming call from Tony Stark. Would you like me to answer it on speaker?" You grabbed a quick breakfast from the kitchen and headed for the door.

"No," you said. "Send him to voicemail with a message: I've got a train to catch." With that you locked up the house and headed for the subway.

When you got to school you basically just went through the motions. You jotted down a few notes, here and there but nothing was eventful. The only that caught your attention was Peter and Ned whispering all the time. You were in the middle of chemistry when Ned moved his chair over to Peter's and started talking in a hushed voice. You knew it shouldn't be bothered by it, but you hated it when people kept secrets from you. Admittedly you tried to eavesdrop a few times, but every time you would get close enough to hear they stopped talking. You swore it was like Peter had a sixth sense or something.

Annoyed that you couldn't figure out what they were talking about, you stayed in the locker room during PE and opened your laptop. If you couldn't figure their secret out you'd figure out your dad's. You connected to the school wi-fi and tried to open the file. No luck. You tried again, but this time a warning message popped up saying you couldn't open the file on a public network service. You closed the laptop in frustration and started to head out of the locker room. A bunch of girls swarmed through the door so you waited for them to pass.

"Did you hear what that dork kid said?" one of the girls said to you as she walked by.

You played along, wanting the gossip almost as much as she wanted to tell it. "I didn't," you said with exaggerated interest.

"He was pretending that Peter knows Spider-man," she laughed.

"Spider-man?" you genuinely asked. Did this have something to do with the Spiderling File?

"I know right?," she continued. "If I had to guess that one of the students secretly knew Spider-man he would be my last choice." She walked away leaving you with a lot of questions. You were starting to think that Tony chose this school for a reason. Not that you had ever really believed otherwise. You grabbed your laptop and backpack and left to find Peter.

When the school bell rang you just barely had enough time to get to Peter before he left the school grounds.

"Oh, hey, Y/N," he said as he realized you were trying to get his attention.

"Hey," you said. Before you asked him about Spider-man, you had to figure out who Spider-man was. "Is it okay if I come over to your place for a little bit? The wi-fi has been shut off at my house, and I can't do my project."

Peter glanced at Ned with a panicked look, and Ned reflected it back at him. "Uh, like today?" he asked.

"Yeah, if I can," you said.

Ned started tapping Peter's arm. "Well, actually we've got a thing..to do. It's boys-men only," he explained.

"What?" Peter asked.

"Because we're men," Ned looked wide-eyed at Peter.

"I wont be any trouble," you promised. "Honest, I just need a place to sit and work on my laptop."

They looked at each other making strange facial expressions and hand motions until Peter turned to you. "You can come over," he decided. "But, uh, like Ned said, we are going to be busy."

You smiled. Finally you were going to figure it all out. "Thanks, Peter."

"Yeah, sure thing," he whispered with a smile. On the way to Peter's home you noticed they were both fidgeting and whispering. They were definitely hiding something, but you were too caught up in your thoughts to care. You wanted to find out who or what Spider-man was. You made small talk on the way, and soon enough you were at Peter's apartment.

"May!" Peter called when he opened the door. A tall, thin woman walked into the living room while drying her hands on a towel.

"Hey, Peter," she said. Her eyes met yours. "Who's this?"

Peter looked confused. "It's Ned." You looked at the carpet, trying to hide the smile on your face.

May bit her lip trying to keep back a smile of her own. "So, you think I might be talking about the strange girl I've never seen before or-"

"Oh yeah, obviously, sorry," Peter said and pointed to you. "This is Y/N. She's here to work on her project."

"Hi," you said with a small wave.

May nodded slowly. "Alright," she said. "I'll be in the kitchen."

Peter turned to you. "Ned and I will be in my room," he said. "You can sit anywhere you want, but if you need to talk to us just... make sure you knock."

"Okay?" you said. With that Ned and Peter rushed off. You raised a brow and chuckled softly. After taking your laptop out of your bag, you sat down on their couch, and tried to connect to the internet. Of course, a password was needed. "Miss Parker," you called. "What's the password to your network?"

Her head popped into the living room. "Oh, that's always too long for me to remember. Peter!" she yelled down the hall. You heard Peter answer from his room.

"What's the wi-fi password?" May asked.

Peter's door opened and he stuck his head out. "May, how many times; It's Emily." Emily? The name rattled around in your head as you tried to recall where you had heard that recently.

"Oh right, it's 'Enter Magic Internet Link Yottabyte'," she said and returned to the kitchen. Your fingers hovered over the keyboard. It was from your dad's files. That's where you had heard about Emily.

"You got that?" You heard May's voice echo from the kitchen, but you weren't sure you completely got it. Surely that couldn't be a coincidence. The acronyms were slightly different, but it was still uncanny.

"Yeah, I got it," you said as you typed in the password. You would look into that later, but you had been waiting all day to find our about the Spiderling/Spider-man.

It took hours for you to get by all the protocols that your dad had put in place. And while the computer was running decryptions you couldn't help but think about what Peter was doing. You heard practically nothing from him and Ned the whole time. Once in a while, they would leave the room for a snack, but that's all you saw them. And yet even that short time seeing Peter made you blush. You couldn't explain why you would get so nervous when you saw him. You were pretty sure you hadn't decided that you liked him, but then again, maybe it wasn't your choice.

The computer alerting you it was done, brought your attention back to the task at hand. You searched in the files for Spider-man and got plenty more results than when you had searched for Spiderling. They were all mostly suits or ways to upgrade the suits. Nothing all that telling; however when you searched the web, you found a video of the hero wearing the exact same suit that Tony designed. You also learned that he had an encounter with bank robbers just last night in Queens. You took a second to piece together the information.

A new hero appeared after the Avengers split, and your dad has been helping him by giving him a suit upgrade. He was working in Queens and the next day Peter claims he knows him? You smiled knowing what was up. Somehow Peter knew Spider-man and you were going to find out how.

You got off the couch and headed for Peter's room. Disregarding their no knocking rule, you swung the door open, and you almost couldn't believe what was in front of you. There was Ned, sitting on Peter's bed wearing Tony Stark's own Spider-man mask. Peter stood petrified next to him and they both looked at you, horrified.

"It's not what it looks like!" Peter squeaked. He looked at Ned desperately.

Ned slipped the mask off his head and nodded quickly. "He's right. This is just a misunderstanding."

"_Big _misunderstanding," Peter confirmed. Ned was Spider-man? That couldn't have been right. He was a completely different build from the Spider-man in the video you saw. Without another word you closed their door and went to find May. Surely she would know something about this. Peter ran out of his room and stepped in front of you. "Wait, it's just a costume."

You nodded sarcastically. "Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense," you said. "You were trying to keep me out of your room, because you didn't want me to know you had a costume." You raised your brow as you waited for him to respond.

"Yes?" Peter said. Ned walked out of the room with the mask in hand. "Dude!" Peter yelled as he snatched it from Ned, and threw it back into his room. "Can we talk in my room?" You looked him in the eyes, and saw that he was legitimately worried. You slowly walked back into his room, and they followed shutting the door behind them.

"It's fine, Peter." Ned said. "We should tell her the truth."

Peter shook his head and kept mouthing "no" to his friend.

"Yes," Ned turned to you. "It's a souvenir from the Stark Internship." Did you hear him right? The "Stark internship"? You bit your tongue as you held back a laugh.

"Yes!" Peter said picking up his act. "You know, everyone who was part of the Stark Internship they, uh, they all got a fake Spider-man mask. T-thats how I got it."

"The Stark Internship." you repeated. They both nodded. "Ok, here's the problem. I know you're lying; and I don't care that you're Spider-man, Ned, I just care that the secret of Spider-man is in the hand of the two worst liars in the world."

"Ned's not Spider-man. I was just letting him try on the mask," Peter explained.

"So, you're Spider-man," you said to Peter.

"No, I got that from the Stark Internship-"

"No, you didn't, Peter."

"I did. I swear." he said in all seriousness.

Ok, now this was just getting sad. You figured you should tell him the truth before he got too desperate to make you believe him. "Peter, there's no such thing as the Stark Internship."

"There is! I applied to it-"

"There's no such thing as the Stark Internship-"

"How do you know? Have you-"

"Because I'm Tony Stark's daughter!" Everyone went silent.

Peter stared at you with wide eyes. "You're Y/N Stark..."

"Yeah, and you're Spider-man." you answered.

"Mr. Stark told you?" he asked.

You laughed. "No, you're just really obvious. Plus, your wi-fi password is my dad's original name for his computer system."

"Mr. Stark set that up for us so the internet was more secure," Peter said.

You looked over at Ned who had been quiet for a while. "How did you find out?"

"I saw him crawling on the ceiling," Ned said with a smile.

Your attention whipped back to Peter. "You can crawl on the ceiling?" you asked excitedly.

"Shhh!" Peter looked at the door anxiously. "Listen I know you think it's really obvious that I'm Spider-man, but my aunt doesn't know so please don't tell her." You couldn't imagine May not knowing, but you promised not to tell and Peter sighed in relief.

Ned looked at you jokingly. "I wouldn't get too excited; I was asking him earlier today, and he can't do anything cool, like spit venom or lay eggs."

Peter opened his mouth to defend himself, but his faced dropped before he could get a word out. "The tracker!" he whispered.

"What tracker?" you queried.

"I put a tracker on this guy who's selling dangerous weapons," Peter explained.

"We've tracked him as far as Maryland, but we can't get there," Ned added. He turned to Peter. "Sorry, Peter."

"No, there's gotta be a way to get there in time," Peter said as he paced the room.

"I have lots of contacts, if you can pack up and leave," you offered.

"Awesome," Ned whispered, but Peter shook his head.

"No, May would never let me go...unless..." Peter looked over at the wall where a poster for the school's decathlon hung. "Maryland isn't too far from DC."

The next day you, Ned, and Peter stood outside a decathlon bus that was headed for DC. You were surprised they let you there at all since you hadn't been studying with them, but they tested you, you answered correctly so there you were. Of course you were only a backup, but it didn't matter. You just needed a ride.

You all boarded the bus and found seats as far back as they would allow. Now it was just a waiting game. They set up a review for everyone to do, but you and Peter were mostly talking to each other.

"You know," Peter was saying. "The Decathlon is actually pretty fun when you're not using it to track down bad guys."

"Are you kidding?" You laughed. "I can do school anytime, but I never get to do anything like this."

Peter turned in his seat toward you. "But you're Y/N Stark. I mean you probably know the rest of Avengers or something."

You sighed. "Yeah, but knowing the Avengers and working with them are two different things," you said as you brushed your hair behind your ear. "The most action I've seen is my dad testing his suits. It's embarrassing."

"No, no, even that's cool!" Peter assured you. "I mean I'm just a neighborhood Spider-man, you know? Well I did steal Captain America's shield once; that was pretty awesome, but I mostly stay in Queens."

"Still bigger than a basement," you mumbled. "It's cool that you look after your town though. The Avengers are so caught up with the big threats, they forget about the little things."

"Yeah, I mean the only other person, besides you and Ned, who knows about the guys we're tracking is Mr. Stark," Peter said.

"If my dad knows about this, and finds out that I'm headed straight for it, I'm in big trouble," You said almost to yourself. Your thoughts were interrupted when Peter's phone rang.

"I gotta take this," he said and excused himself further back in the bus.

While he was gone, you thought about what you had said earlier. You were taking a big risk following Peter to DC. Your dad always made sure you were far away from danger, and if he found out that you were waltzing right toward men armed with lethal, alien tech, you might as well kiss Midtown High goodbye. A few days ago you would've been happy about that, but now you weren't so sure. It was laughable how quickly you changed your mind, and for what? Different surroundings, a bit of adventure, or maybe a boy you couldn't stop thinking about who was right there with you from your first day. He couldn't even hear you and you were blushing. You looked out the window hoping to take your mind off your warm cheeks. All you were saying was, maybe going to Midtown High could be for the better.

Peter started walking back to you, while stuffing his phone in his pocket. "That was Happy Hogan," he explained to you and Ned. "There's a tracker in my suit, and who knows what they'll do if they see that I'm in Maryland instead of DC."

You opened your mouth to say something, but your phone rang before you got the chance. You looked at the others worriedly and showed them the caller ID. "Happy Hogan," you said.

"No way," Ned whispered. This time it was your turn to step to the back of the bus.

"Yeah?" you said as casually as you could.

"I just got a notification here that you left New York?" Happy said.

"Yes, it's for the decathlon at school," you started. "But, Happy, why and how are you tracking me?"

You heard him snort out a breath. "Are you kidding? You're swimming in your dad's technology how could I not track you," he replied.

"Ok...but still, tracking me is wrong and just plain-"

"Did you say it was for the decathlon?" Happy interrupted.

You bit your tongue before responding. "Yes."

"Your dad didn't sign you up for that."

"Well, I don't need him to sign me up for everything I'm going to be doing," you said. "Get off my back...and my computer...and my phone." You hung up and hurried back to where you were sitting.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked. You started rummaging through your bags for every piece of online electronic you had with you.

"My dad's tracking me too," you explained. You quickly and thoroughly shut down each device you had found. "I'll just have to be gadget free for a while."

You spent the rest of the bus ride talking, answering review questions, or thinking to yourselves. Despite the feeling that someone was watching your every move, it was actually enjoyable. When you made it to Washington DC, you didn't exactly have time to stretch. The three of you went to Peter and Ned's hotel room and immediately started working on the tracker in Peter's suit.

"I don't know exactly where the tracker would be, but from what I remember it's around here," you said as you circled a part of the suit.

"Right ok, so, how do we open it up?" Peter asked. You all stared at the suit, hoping it would magically open. No such luck.

After half an hour of trying to open the suit without ruining it, you located the wiring, and successfully removed it from the suit. In the process, however, Ned had also found a system called "Training wheels protocol" that was blocking the suits abilities. It took some convincing, but Ned disabled it and soon you were ready to be on your way.

"Ok, I gotta go," Peter said as he zipped his coat up over his suit.

"What do you mean_ you_ have to go," you questioned. "_We_ have to go. I'm coming too."

"What? No, you need to stay here," Peter insisted. "Mr. Stark wouldn't want you to come with me."

"'Mr. Stark' wouldn't want you to go at all. There's no reason for me to stay here."

"There's no reason for you to go either. It just puts you in danger."

"I'm sick and tired of everyone trying to keep me out of danger! I want to help!"

"Guys!" Ned interrupted. "We aren't getting anywhere standing around arguing."

"I agree," You said. "Let's go, Peter."

"Y/N," Peter stood in front of you and looked at you pleadingly. "I know what it's like to want to help, but if something happened to you, I couldn't live with that. Not only because Mr. Stark would probably kill me," he added with a chuckle "But also because I don't want anything to happen to my friends. Please stay here with Ned."

After a moment of looking into his eyes you folded. "Fine," you breathed.

Peter sighed in relief. "Thank you! I'll be back soon!" he yelled before jumping out the door. Ned tried to talk to you, but you weren't in the mood. You gathered your things, said goodnight to Ned, and went to your room. Hopefully Peter would still be alive by morning.

"I'm so stupid! I should've gone with him!," you grumbled as you and Ned your anxiously waited for the decathlon to start. "Peter should have been here by now."

"I know," Ned agreed. "It would be so not cool if he died last night.

You raised your brow. "No kidding." The decathlon was about to start and one of your teachers tried to get you to replace him. You got out of it by lying that you were sick, but now your stomach was housing a kaleidoscope of butterflies that made it less of a lie. What if something had happened to Peter? For all you knew he could be dead in an alley, and it would be your fault for not going with him.

The decathlon started and ended before you knew it. Ned told you that their team had won, but there was still no sign of Peter. Your whole group was heading towards the Washington Monument to celebrate, and you made your way over to Ned.

"How is Peter going to know where we are?" you whispered.

"Oh," Ned said as he reached in his pocket. "I'll send him a text." You stared at the phone in his hand and then at him.

"You could've called him the whole time?" you said through gritted teeth.

"Oh yeeaah," Ned replied.

You snatched the phone away from him, but right before you could dial anything Peter called.

You answered as quickly as you could. "Peter?" you said.

"Y/N?" Peter sounded out of breath and you heard wind rushing by the phone. "Please give the phone to Ned, it's an emergency!"

"What happened?" you asked worriedly.

"I'll explain everything later, just give the phone to Ned!"

You grudgingly gave the phone to Ned, who was passing by the security search in the monument. You tried to hear what he was saying put you were pushed back as the students formed a single file line. When you made it by security you met up with Ned, but he wasn't on the phone.

"What did he say?" you questioned.

"He was just worried I forgot something at the room," Ned answered.

"He said it was an emergency," you said.

Ned shrugged. "He hung up after the security sweep. Listen I'm sure he's fine. He's at least alive. Let's just enjoy the tour." Ned walked off leaving you anxious and confused.

The same teacher who had tried to make you take Peter's place walked up to you. "Feeling better?"

You angrily grabbed your stuff off the security conveyor. "Hardly." You followed Ned into the elevator with the rest of the students.

The slow incline of the elevator made you more worried the higher you went. You fidgeted and tried to listen to the tour guide, but your mind was somewhere else. You just couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. Unfortunately, you discovered your suspicions were correct when a laser-like light penetrated through Ned's backpack and the elevator ceiling causing severe damage to the shaft. You looked in horror at Ned who immediately dropped his backpack on the ground. After a moment of silence, the tour guide tried to assure you that you would all be fine, but it didn't take a genius to know that wasn't true. The students around you were in panic, and frankly, you were too. Your mind was so focused on Peter that you couldn't think about your situation until it was life or death, and now you were freaking out.

Some security guards had come to get as many people out as possible, but you could feel the elevator shifting every time someone moved. You felt like you couldn't breath, as you watched each student carefully make their way out. The elevator was emptying and your breath slowly came back to you. It was Ned's turn to leave, but before he could even make it through the hatch the elevator plummeted.

Everything that happened was a blur. You remember the the feeling of falling, and the screams of the other students, but you were just petrified. You didn't scream, and you didn't dare move. You shivered thinking about it again. You now stood safely on the ground looking up at the Washington Monument. Peter was there. It only just hit you. The reason everyone had made it out alive was because Peter had caught the falling elevator long enough to get everyone out. You looked around, but you didn't see him anywhere. However, as you were looking for Peter, you did see someone else walking toward you; and as he got closer you realized exactly who it was. Tony Stark: your dad.

**To be continued...**


	2. For the Better - Part 2 (Peter P)

Your dad walked toward you and at first you stood frozen. You couldn't seem to get your emotions sorted, and you didn't know how you felt. You were shocked, and angry that he knew where you were, but overall you were weak and distraught. He stood in front of you and didn't say a word. You waited for him to scold you, or tell you how stupid you had been, but he only stood there.

You were going to say something to defend yourself, but your eyes filled with tears. Instead, you wrapped your arms around your dad and closed your eyes. Everything that had happened to you had just settled in, and you were terrified. It was all over, but you were shaking, and wanted to be near someone. You cried silently as your dad returned the hug.

There was a moment before either of you said anything. "Well," your dad started while stepping back from the hug. "I hope you enjoyed your time at the Washington Tower of Terror."

"I'm sorry," you whispered. You couldn't think of anything else to say. You couldn't defend yourself, you couldn't argue; you were just sorry.

"One week," he continued. "One week is all it took, and this is what you do. You dig through all my files, discover the secret of Spider-man, and go on a 'field trip' with an alien bomb in your pocket."

"I-I only wanted to help," you choked.

"Yeah? Well, you're done helping," he scolded. "You know, ten feet and you could break something." He gestured to the monument. "Five hundred fifty-five feet? That's death. Do you have any idea the reaction I would get if I brought home to your mother, not jewelry, not chocolate, but a Y/N Pancake-"

"I know, I-"

"Don't interrupt me!" he interrupted. He stared at you coldly. "All right, go say bye to your friends."

"I can take the bus back home-"

"You're not going back to that house. You're going upstate to the new compound where I can keep an eye on you. I'll send Happy to get your things."

Your eyes widened. "What? No! Going to school in Queens is the best thing that's happened to me."

"This?" he asked appalled. "Is the best thing that's happened to you?"

"No, I mean Peter and Ned," you explained. "They're good friends, and I'm finally doing something other than sitting in a lab, working on pointless things."

"That 'something' you're talking about almost got you killed," he snapped. "The only reason I'm letting you say goodbye in the first place, is so Spider-boy stays off of Happy's back about you disappearing. Take your chance now, or we can go right now and block his number."

You glanced behind your dad to see Peter looking around frantically. You ruined everything. you told yourself. You didn't have much choice about what to do. You started walking toward Peter.

"Y/N," your dad called to you. "He doesn't know I'm here. Keep it that way." With that, he turned around and got back in his car.

You bit your lip as tears filled your eyes, but you wiped them away, and continued walking. Peter turned around in his search and locked eyes with you. Before you could say anything, he ran up to you and pulled you in a hug. You wanted to say something, but no words came to you.

He quickly pulled away. "Sorry," he mumbled before he continued. "Y/N, I was so worried about you! I thought I had gotten you off the elevator, but I couldn't find you, and I started to panic-"

"I'm sorry. I'm fine," you managed to get out.

"You're not hurt are you?" he asked.

The lump in your throat stopped you from replying so you shook your head. You could feel your dad's glare on the back of your neck, and you knew you needed to make this quick.

"Well, Ned's over there looking for you," Peter said. "We should get over to him."

You didn't move. "Peter...I have to go,"

He stopped. "Why?"

"After what happened," you said choosing your words carefully. "My dad wants me to go back home,"

"Oh ok, I'll tell Ned I found you, and we can talk tomorrow," he replied.

"No, I mean he's taking me out of school," you whispered it as if saying it quieter would make it untrue.

"Oh,"

"Oh," you confirmed. "I'm really sorry, Peter."

"No, it's ok," he assured you. "Mr. Stark knows what he's talking about. You should probably go then."

You both stood there staring at the ground, not wanting to leave. If there was some way to at least keep in touch with him, you would have taken it. You thought on that for a second. Maybe there was a way.

You glanced at the car your dad was waiting in, then turned back to Peter and started rummaging through your bag. He looked at you confusedly, but he didn't say anything. You found what you were looking for and looked back at Peter.

"Disable everything but messenger, and we can keep in touch on this." You discretely passed your phone over to him.

He held the phone like it was bomb "Wouldn't it be easier to give me your number?" he asked.

"Do you have paper and a pen?" you questioned.

He thought about it. "I'll take good care of this," he decided after a moment.

You nodded and started backing away. "I have to go." You reached the curb and called over your shoulder, "Say bye to Ned for me!"

You saw Peter wave to show he had acknowledged you, and you got in the car.

"Is this really necessary?" you whined to your dad.

"You bet it is," he confirmed and started the car. "Put your seat belt on. One accident should be enough for you."

You sighed, fastened your seat belt, and stared out the window at your friends. From what you could tell, Peter was explaining to Ned that you had to leave. Neither of them seemed happy about it, but there wasn't a doubt in your mind that you were the most upset. After all, it was your fault. You only wanted to come to DC because you knew there was danger. You wanted to help for once instead of being stuck in a lab programming checker-playing robots. Even if you explained that to your dad it wouldn't change anything. So, you stayed quiet for the rest of the drive.

The drive reminded you of the last time you were in a car with your dad; except last time you were sad because you were going to school. You didn't know why you were so upset about leaving. You hadn't even wanted to go to school, but something had changed your mind. Whether you wanted to admit it or not that something was a someone, named Peter. It was ridiculous to you, how close you had become in only a few days. You hadn't expected to make friends at Midtown High, especially not in the first week. Maybe it was because he was an unexpected friend, that you felt close to him. Your life had changed a lot in one day and he was one of the first changes.

You weren't used to not talking to your dad. That was a change you didn't like, and it became obvious that he didn't either, when he kept trying to get you to talk. "You won't be missing school when you see the lab they're setting up," he was saying.

"I don't miss the school," you grumbled.

"Then why are you staring out the window like a kidnapped puppy?" he retorted. You rolled your eyes and turned your attention to the passing buildings. You could tell he kept glancing over at you waiting for you to respond. You stayed quiet until you reached the airport.

You wordlessly boarded plane, and your dad had given up realizing you weren't going to talk. He found a seat, put on his work glasses, and started talking to the computer installed on them. You couldn't hear much of what he was saying, but there were times when he would speak up so you could hear what he was saying.

"What percentage of people can survive a 555 foot drop?"

"Thank you for carrying out my orders without question."

"It's so nice knowing that there are other people in this world we can talk to. That way, we don't have to spend all our charisma on an artificial intelligence."

All those questions, and more, made you want to say something. Anything would've worked, but you had nothing to say. You stayed to your thoughts and waited for the flight to be over.

After a while your dad spoke up, bringing you out of your thoughts. "Give me your phone," he said. "I need to apply this upgrade to it"

You froze. When you had given Peter your phone, you didn't even think about having to ask your dad for a new one. "I don't have it," you said.

Your dad took off his smart glasses, and furrowed his brow at you. "Wanna run that by me again?" he said.

"I dropped it down the elevator shaft," you lied. Hopefully he wouldn't think much about it.

"My thousand dollar technology is crushed at the bottom of an elevator shaft?" he questioned.

You sucked in your cheeks and nodded. "Better the phone than me."

"Don't make me change my mind on that," he quipped before putting his glasses back on. You breathed a silent sigh of relief and sunk down in your chair. After everything that had happened you wanted to rest for little bit.

You woke up with a start when your dad tapped your knee. "Let's go, Sleeping Beauty," he called as he left the plane. Were you there already? It felt like you hadn't even closed your eyes for a second. You stood up groggily and got off the plane.

Sure enough you were standing outside the new avengers compound. It wasn't completed yet, but you could tell it almost was. Your dad was walking toward the entrance with his arms outstretched. "What do you think?" he asked.

You actually did like the look of the building, but you weren't in the mood to say so. "Yeah, it's great," you said sarcastically. "Now I can live the rest of my days in a slightly better basement." You hoisted your bag onto your shoulder and walked past your dad into the building.

Inside, there were only a few furnishings. A couple of tables with nothing on them and few couches. Sitting on one of those couches was your mom. When she saw you she quickly set her tablet down, ran over to you, and pulled you into a hug.

"Y/N, are you ok?" she questioned as she held you tight.

"Oh she's fine," your dad answered for you as he walked in the door. "Other than a small attitude problem." He glared over at you, and sat down on the couch.

Pepper stepped back. "You be good to your dad," she warned. "After all he did go all the way to DC to save you."

"Yeah, it's a shame he got there after the elevator plummeted 50 feet though," you said casually. Pepper whipped around to glare at Tony.

He stood up from the couch and pointed at you. "I would've been there sooner if you hadn't disabled your phone."

This time Pepper whipped around to glare at you. "You what?"

You shrugged. "No phones allowed for the decathlon."

"That was on the bus!" he said.

"Let's just say I got a head start."

Pepper interrupted both of you. "I knew this was a bad idea," she said. "You shouldn't have gone to school. Why did I let you talk me into this?" she asked Tony.

"This was 100 percent your idea," he replied. They went back and forth for a while, not being able to decide who's idea it was. Realizing they weren't getting anywhere, you left them to their bickering and found your room.

You dropped your bag to the ground and fell face-down on the bed. It wasn't long before you were crying into your pillow. The events of the day had left you, terrified, sad, and angry, and you didn't how else to deal with them all at once. You wanted the day to be over, but you couldn't sleep. Being submerged in a salty pillow probably wasn't helping, but you were too tired to do anything about it. Right when you were about to fall asleep, there was a knock at your door. You didn't reply, but you had a guess at who it was.

Your suspicions were confirmed when your dad opened the door and sat on your bed. "Happy's here with your stuff," he said. You didn't say anything. "Leaving your shoes in the middle of the floor? I told you not to trash the place," he joked.

"You also said you would make me stay the summer if I did," you said. You turned to face him. "Yet, here I am."

"You're seriously going to try that right now?"

You turned back to the wall. "I'm tired," you deadpanned.

"I'm not taking you back to Queens for your little crush," he said.

"It's not a crush," you whispered.

"Oh it isn't. So what, you miss the algebra? The history?" He stood up and started to leave that room. "You can keep saying otherwise, but you only want to be there because of that boy. You're not going back to Queens." He left the room so you couldn't continue the conversation. You wouldn't have anyway. There was no point in trying to convince your parents to let you go back. Their minds were obviously made up, and if they actually agreed on something, that was scary enough to make you agree too.

You crawled under your blankets, and exhaustion finally took over.

Because you had gone to bed early you woke up early, and you laid in bed staring at the ceiling. You weren't in the mood for getting up considering you had nothing to get up for. You didn't have classes, or projects, or friends to hang out with. You decided you would go back to sleep, but outside the sounds of construction started up. After grumbling into your pillow, you got up.

You were too tired to care about getting dressed, and you walked to the kitchen in your pajamas. You made yourself a simple breakfast and thought about your situation. Peter would be able to disable the phone without any problems. The big hurdle was you needing a new phone.

You came to the conclusion: if you were going to be here for while, you might as well do what you enjoy.

You put your dishes in the sink and started finding your way to your dad's lab. After a few hallways and a pair of double, glass doors you found it. Surprisingly, it wasn't in a basement this time. You scanned the room, admiring the brand new, high-end machinery. There was an exciting mix of machines you didn't know how to use, and ones you did. In almost every section there was a holo-table, and you guessed they all had Friday installed. Despite what you would have your dad believe, you wouldn't mind working here at all.

After you set out plan in your mind, you fired up all the equipment you would need and got to work. You decided you were going to make your own phone so you could know no one was tracking you by it. As soon as you set the plan in your mind, you got to work. You had never made a phone before, but you had made things similar. After skimming over a few blueprints you had the basic idea of what you needed to do.

Not long after you began your work, your dad had found you. You ignored him as he walked in the door, but he didn't ignore you.

"I see you found all the toys," he said as he sat his drink on the table you were working on. "With all the tech in this room you'd be able to sniff it out for miles."

"Mhm," you replied absentmindedly. You moved his mug to the table behind you. In response he sat on your work table, and bent toward you so you would have to look at him.

"You're not going to talk to me for 3 years?" he challenged. You didn't reply. Instead you swiped the screen over where you could see it. He hopped off the table and pushed the screen down. "You wanna go to school that bad?" he fumed. "There's a place just a few minutes away. Be my guest."

You ignored what he did and went to a different machine. Your dad pulled up the blueprints you had been looking at.

"You know I already have a phone design," he said.

"I'm sure you do," you huffed.

"Except," he continued. "This piece," he pointed, but you didn't look over. "I replace with Friday."

"I don't need Friday."

He scoffed. "Oh you don't, huh? So, who woke you up in time for school."

You glared at him as you remembered the irritating alarm that had went off during your first day in that house.

With one look at your face he couldn't contain his laughter. "Oh good, it worked," he chuckled.

"I didn't appreciate that," you said with a scowl.

He started making his way out of the lab. "I know you did." You bit your tongue as he walked out the glass doors.

You took a deep breath and got back to work. This needed to be done as soon as possible.

After a few hours of working in the lab, you were done. You put all the components together, and started up the phone. The light that came from the screen was the best thing you had seen all day. You set up the necessary information and downloads, and went straight to the messenger.

Peter? It's Y/N. Are you there?

You stared at the screen waiting impatiently for a response.

"You usually have to do more than stare at it to get it to work." Your dad's voice scared you, and you jumped in surprise. You closed the app as quickly as you could.

"It works just fine," you informed him. "I was just reading something."

"What about?" he pushed.

"Conversations to walk away from," you retorted and walked past him. As you tried to get past, he stood in front of you and took the phone from your hands. You froze where you were, and watched him anxiously as he looked it over.

"Not bad," he remarked. "You test to see if it calls yet?"

"Don't have anyone to call anymore." He glared at you and handed the phone back. You silently took it back and left the room. When you were out of his sight, you bolted for your room and locked the door. Sitting down on the bed, you reopened the app to see:

I'm here! And Ned is too.

You couldn't help but smile. Your idea had worked.

Is everything else disabled? You asked.

Yeah, we took care of it.

You breathed a small sigh of relief. There was a chance that this could work...at least for a while. You continued making sure that there was no way it could be traced back to Peter, and, soon enough, you were satisfied. Peter was almost as good with tech as you were, which helped ease your mind.

Tell me everything that's going on. I can help you find information about the guy you're after.

The rest of the day, you had been searching for any information you could find, and relaying it back to Peter. There wasn't much that you could access without having to get a pass-code, but you used what you had. You were just happy to help.

Days had gone by with the same patterns. You and Peter would exchange information, but you could never stay on serious things for too long. Deciphering files, after a while, gave you a headache. So, you and Peter talked about other things until they went away. You spent most of your time talking to him, but soon that would have to change.

Your dad noticed how absorbed in the phone you were, and since you didn't have friends before, it looked suspicious. He would ask you who you were texting, and every time your heart would speed up. You couldn't keep lying about it forever. At times you thought, he figured it out, but somehow, he never did. It was like living in a mine field. One wrong step - leaving the phone somewhere for your dad to find, for example - and it would all blow up in your face.

You were sitting in your room talking to Peter when, your dad opened the door. "Get off the phone. Your mom wants us to eat lunch together," he said.

"Seriously?" you asked. You never ate together anymore. Someone was always busy, or had a specific appetite.

"Yep, come to the kitchen," he instructed. Was something wrong? You hesitantly got out of your chair and put the phone in your pocket. Worry started building up as you walked down the hall.

When you walked into the kitchen you saw your parents sitting at a table. It looked like they had just started eating, and your dad pulled a chair out, inviting you to join them.

"Is there something wrong?" you asked as you sat down.

"No, I just thought we could have lunch as a family for once," your mom replied. You stared at the food in front of you. It was from your favorite take-out place, and you knew something was up. You looked at your dad, but he had his glasses on, and was most likely doing some kind of work.

"Yeah, a family," you remarked. "All four of us."

Your dad didn't say anything but your mom raised her brow at you. "Four?"

You nodded. "You, Dad, me, and Friday." Your dad's gaze whipped over from, whatever he was looking at, to you.

"Tony!" your mom scolded. "You said those were off!"

"They absolutely are," he said while subtly turning them off. "You have my full attention."

She scoffed. "I don't think anyone has ever had your full attention." You started opening the packaging on your food. "Y/N, we need to talk to you."

Those were the words you were waiting to hear. You quickly wrapped the food back up. "I knew there was a catch to this," you grumbled. "I'm not very hungry." You stood up to leave, but your dad stopped you.

"Sit down, young lady," he said. You slumped in your seat as you listened.

"Your dad and I have noticed that you've been upset about leaving school," Pepper started. "So we're going to make it up to you."

"We are?" Your dad furrowed his brow.

Your mom glowered at him. "Yes, we are. Your school vacation was kind of a wreck." You snorted. There was the understatement of the century. "So, why don't you pick somewhere you'd like to go, and we'll see if you can," she said.

You perked up. "Anywhere?"

"Not Queens," your dad stated, knowing what you were up to.

"But, anywhere else?" you asked getting more excited.

"Within the state," she added. Anywhere in New York would work. You would just needed to make it sound like a vacation instead of a random meeting place.

You stood up and grabbed your food. "I guess I have some locations to look at." You smiled and quickly went back to your room. You took out your phone as soon as the door was closed.

My parents just surprised me with a vacation wherever I want. You informed Peter. Any good vacation spots around queens? Maybe we could meet up.

No response. You waited a little while before putting the phone back in your pocket. He must be in class. You finished your lunch as you browsed websites, trying to find a good place.

It had been a while and Peter still hadn't responded. You tried not to worry, but something didn't feel right. You started heading for the lab when you noticed Happy Hogan walking down the hall talking rapidly on the phone.

"Is everything alright?" you questioned.

He hung up the phone and turned to you. "Your dad just left for some kind of emergency," he explained. "I think it has something to do with that Parker kid."

Your stomach twisted into a knot. Peter. Something had happened, and it was bad enough for your dad to go, in person, to fix it.

"Where did he go?" you pressed.

"Like Tony tells me anything," he huffed, and walked away. You watched him retreat down the hallway as you thought about your next move. You ran to your dad's personal workshop.

"Friday," you called. Screens appeared around you.

"Hello, Y/N," the computer greeted. "How are you enjoying the new compound?"

"Cut the niceties and track all of my dad's suits currently in use," you ordered. All the screens changed to a list of suits.

"There are a few results," she offered while highlighting the ones she was referring to.

"That one." You touched the suit you knew your dad would be using. "Where is it?"

"The suit's target destination is Staten Island." That was an hour away from Queens. Why would Peter be there?

"Bring up any news from that area with the key word: Spider-man." Your heart raced as you scanned the footage Friday had found. Among the screens, one in particular caught your eye.

It was a live video of the Staten Island Ferry with lasers shooting through the ship. You zoomed in on that video. After the light show had stopped, the ferry started to split in half. You watched with wide eyes, hoping that Peter wasn't anywhere near there.

You stared in horror as the ship split and started sinking. It was an amazing yet horrible sight. What made it worse, was between the two halves of the ship, trying to hold it all together, was Peter. You felt helpless as you watched him barely being able to keep it from sinking.

Before you could see what happened next, the footage switched from a 10,000 horsepower ship being torn in half, to a blond woman smiling awkwardly at the camera.

"Friday, change it back!" you demanded. All the screens returned to the list of suits. "No, the video!" Your screen turned back to the news, but Friday explained that she couldn't change what you were seeing.

The blond woman was still rambling on, but she had the screen of the ferry in the corner. You enhanced the image and saw that the ship was being pressed back together by your dad's technology. You couldn't see Peter anywhere, and you were frustrated that you couldn't move the camera yourself. You wanted to be there to help.

You had an idea. It wasn't right of you to think it, much less execute it, but you needed to make sure Peter was ok. You went to find your mom, and put your plan in action. To your luck, she was looking for you too.

"Y/N, your dad just went to take care of an emergency, but when he gets back, we can talk about your trip," she said.

"That's ok, I know where I want to go for my first day, and I'm going now," you explained.

"Oh, where's that?" she asked.

"The Statue of Liberty," you said with feigned enthusiasm. "You can never see it too many times." Adding that last bit probably wasn't necessary, but you wanted to make sure she would let you go.

She looked at you strangely. She knew that you that you had gone to see it before, and - though it was interesting to see - there were still lots of places you hadn't been. "Are you sure?" she asked.

You nodded. "Positive."

"Alright, I can get Happy-"

"I'll take Banks," you interrupted. No doubt, your dad would've told Happy that you couldn't go to Queens, and that wasn't going to help you in the slightest. You looked outside hoping Agent Banks was still working on the greenery around the compound.

Your mom opened her mouth to say something, but you cut her off yet again. "Love you, bye!" You sprinted out the door and approached Banks. "Care for a break?" you offered once he was in hearing range.

"What for?" he questioned as he clipped a stray twig off a bush.

"Do you need a reason shrug off the shrubbery?" you said. You got into the car parked in front of the building. "Come on." It took him a second, but he complied and got into the car. "First, drop me off at Queens. Then you can turn back around, and go to The Statue of Liberty until I call you to pick me up. Deal?"

"Deal," he agreed. He started the engine, and carried out your request.

Two and a half hours later, you got out of the car. You signaled for Banks to roll down his window, and handed him some cash. "Buy me a souvenir?"

"Sure thing, but," he signaled for you to come close. "Mr. Stark knows about this, right?"

You pursed your lips. "Mrs. Potts does." He nodded, rolled up his window, and drove off.

You had instructed him to leave you right outside Peter's apartment. You wasted no time and rushed up the steps of the building. You tried to knock on the door at a normal volume, but you failed miserably.

"I'm coming!" You heard May's voice coming close. She swung the door open, but when she saw who it was her face completely changed. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry, Peter can't talk right now. Maybe another time." She began to close the door, but you heard Peter stop her. You held your breath as Peter came to the door.

"Y/N?" he asked. His eyes were red as if he had been crying, and he was wearing a T-shirt far too big for him. You wanted to run up to him and pull him into a hug, but your feet felt cemented to where you were standing.

"Would've given a heads-up, but you seemed kinda busy," you quipped.

"Ha ha," he chuckled. You wanted to tell him you had missed him, but a lump formed in your throat.

"Do you want to go on a walk?" you managed to ask. You wanted to talk to him about everything, but you couldn't do it with May listening in. He nodded and told to his aunt where he was going. You walked down the stairs without saying anything, feeling as if everyone in the building was waiting for you spill your secrets.

As soon as you hit the street you bombarded Peter with questions. "Are you ok? I saw the news about that ferry incident. Why were you in your suit in Staten Island? I thought we shared plans with each other."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I really am sorry about everything."

"What do you mean everything?" you questioned.

"I mean I'm sorry that I dragged you into all of this. I'm sorry I ruined your relationship with your dad. I'm sorry that I'm not a good enough Spider-man, but I did the best I could..." he trailed off at the end as he barley squeaked out the last sentence. His eyes filled with tears and he tried to swallow the rest of his words.

You put your hand on his shoulder. "Peter, what are you talking about?" you asked perplexed.

"Mr. Stark took the suit away," he whispered. Your eyes widened in shock. Why would you dad take that away from him?

You opened your mouth to say something, but Peter stopped you. "Maybe he was right to take it away. I'm nothing without that suit."

"That's not true!" you argued. You were mad at your dad for taking the suit away, but that was no reason to quit. "If you were nothing without that suit, he wouldn't have given it to you in the first place."

"I messed up," he insisted. "I don't know why I thought I could help."

You stopped walking, and looked him in the eyes. "You did help."

"Not according to Mr. Stark."

"Well, 'Mr Stark' took me out of school because it was too dangerous to be around you. So, you must've been doing something!" you blurted.

"Mr Stark took you out of school because of me?" he said.

"Peter, that's not what I meant-"

"And now you don't talk to him because of e too?" You didn't respond. Peter nodded in understanding. "I don't think...we should talk to each other anymore."

"Peter whatever is going on between me and my dad, is not your fault!"

"Yes it is," he insisted as tears fell down his cheeks. "Y/N, you need to make up with your dad, and you cant do that if you're talking to me. Believe me, I'd give anything to talk to my dad again, and it's stupid for you to not talk to your's because of me. I think...this is for the better."

Your eyes stung with tears. You wanted so badly to argue and say that he was wrong, but you couldn't. The truth was, you missed talking to your dad, and you hated keeping secrets from him.

"I guess I have to go," you whispered. Peter agreed silently.

You called Banks, telling him to pick you up, then looked over at Peter. "We still have some time to finish our walk, if you want to," you offered.

He smiled. "Yeah, definitely." You and Peter finished your walk, talking about more pleasant things. You had even met up with Ned to say goodbye to him. The only time you talked to Ned was through Peter, and it was nice to say goodbye face to face.

You weren't back at the apartment for even 10 minutes, when you heard a car honking for you to go. You reluctantly got off the couch and headed towards the door.

"I'll...see you later," you said, knowing it probably wasn't true.

"Yeah, see you later," Peter said with a look that said he knew it too. You left the apartment, but half way down the stairs, Peter ran over to you.

"What are you doing?" you asked surprised.

"I'm walking you to your car," he answered with a smile.

You and Peter left the building and approached the car waiting at the curb. You had both said your goodbyes already, but you stood silently at the car door.

You had to go, but you couldn't bring yourself to leave without doing one thing. Without another thought, you wrapped your arms around Peter, pulling him into a hug. He seemed surprised at first, but soon after the shock he returned the hug.

"Thank you," you whispered, your voice lost in the hug.

"I didn't do anything," he replied.

You shook your head. "Say it all you want, but that doesn't make it true, Spider-man." You stepped back and smiled. He knew there was no point in arguing, so he jokingly rolled his eyes, and opened the car quickly got in, worried that if you took any longer you wouldn't go at all.

"I know we probably won't be able to see each other again," he said. "But on the 1 out of 100 chance, Midtown High is having a homecoming dance. If you aren't going with anyone else..."

You laughed. "Who would I be going with?"

He returned the laugh. "I'll be there."

"I'll wish I was," you with a joking tone, though it was entirely true. "Bye, Peter," you said once again.

"Bye, Y/N," he said and shut the door.

You thought about Peter's offer to take you to the dance. The chances of you going were low to non-existent, but you couldn't get it out of your head.

Banks pulled the car into the exact position it had been before you left.

"Here you go," Banks said while reaching behind him. In his hand was a key chain of the statue of liberty. You smiled and took it from him. You had only told Banks to get you a souvenir so you could have proof that you went there, but you actually did like it.

"Thanks," you said.

You both exited the vehicle, and got back to what you were doing before you left. For Banks, it was trimming the bushes, for you it was watching the news. However, you had something else to do.

You hurried to the workshop to find your dad, and sure enough, there he was, studying screens with his forehead resting loosely on his hand.

"Look who's back from the shortest vacation ever," he remarked without looking at you.

"Well, I didn't need a long one-"

"No, I don't imagine you did, considering you only left to see Spider-man," he retorted. Your stomach sank. If he knew about that, the chances of you making up were slim.

"Dad, I can explain," you said twisting he key chain behind your back.

He finally looked at you, and stood up. "Oh, you're going to explain?" he scoffed "I told you not to go, and you did. There is't much more to explain there."

He had a point. "I know it was wrong to go despite my motive," you explained anyway. "But there is more: I'm sorry, and I'm not talking to him anymore."

You meant what you had said. You were sorry you had been such a brat to your dad, but you were hoping he would forgive you.

He was clearly shocked by what you had said, but he quickly changed expression and nodded. "Ok," he said simply.

Your spirits started to rise. "We're good?"

Your dad smiled and put his arm around you. "We're good." You couldn't believe he forgave you so easily. He started leading you out of his workshop. "As long as you aren't lying."

You shook your head and brought out your phone. You deleted the chat group you had been using to talk to Peter, and handed the phone to your dad. "No strings attached."

You both smiled and headed toward the lab. You pushed everything else behind you, just happy to be inventing with your dad again. Maybe you would see Peter again someday, but until then, you would enjoy your time with your dad, just like Peter had wanted.


End file.
